


Peace and Quiet

by wood_originals



Category: Sons of Anarchy
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:00:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26922535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wood_originals/pseuds/wood_originals
Summary: Bobby and Tara share a moment after Jax has been sent to prison for the long haul.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Peace and Quiet

**Author's Note:**

> Set in an AU during the earlier seasons. Because I do what I want.

There should have been a storm brewing. The wind should have been cussing, breaking branches on trees and rattling windows in frames, but instead the air stood still. There was no rain, no thunder and lightning. The world stood still at body temperature, draining the moment of all its potential to be something. The sun sunk past the horizon without fanfare, light draining from the sky like a curtain falling over a stage.

Jax was in prison, for good, and the world refused to do anything about it.

The clubhouse was loud, as though they could make up for the fact that the world was indifferent to their problems, their brother, through sheer force of will. Hell, most of them probably believed that.

After pulling apart a couple of useless fights, Bobby settled in on one of the picnic benches outside, basking in the quiet as he lit up a joint. He was mad, he was torn up, of course he was, but it wasn’t quite real yet, and besides, he knew he couldn’t change it.

He closed his eyes as he let the smoke fill his lungs, holding it in as long as his body would let him, before he coughed a little and sighed.

Bobby opened his eyes again. The world was the same, but it hurt a little less.

A pattern of noise emerged from the driveway, and after taking a moment to process this information, he turned his head to look over. Tara was walking up towards him, her boots creating a rhythm, tapping against the asphalt. She had Jax’s cut in her arms, folded and hugged against her chest, but otherwise was completely put together.

“Hey darling,” Bobby said easily. He gestured towards the empty spot beside him on the picnic bench, and she sat, curling up around the leather slightly. He nudged her arm lightly and offered her the joint, but she just shook her head.

Silence wrapped around the two of them, and Bobby let it happen, focusing on the burning red tip between his fingers and the way the smoke felt as it slipped between his lips. “Peace” and “quiet” were two drastically different things, but sometimes you could trick yourself into mistaking one for the other, so long as you didn’t look too hard at it.

The joint disappeared quickly and with it, Bobby lost his ability to keep track of time. Night was night, and the clubhouse thrummed with a constant and familiar noise, and after a minute or an hour, Tara mumbled something softly.

“What was that?” Bobby said, voice scratchy.

“I traded Abel for this,” she said, lifting her head a bit more and gesturing towards him with the cut. Her thumbs brushed back and forth over the edges of the reaper patch. “Gemma was never going to let me hold on to this, but I asked her to take Abel for the night, and I took this and left.”

Tara laughed, cold and hard. Bobby sighed, leaning back a little. “Good. You’re going to be looking after that kid for a while now, you might as well take a break now if you need it. Besides, you’re Jax’s old lady, you deserve it.”

Tara just shook her head, wordlessly beating herself down. Bobby could almost feel every ugly emotion pulling her down, anger and shame and hatred clinging to her words, her movements.

He didn’t know how to help, not really, but he did know what to do. He reached out with one arm, wrapping it around her back and tugging her against his side. The two of them stared out into the empty darkness, and Bobby held her there until slowly, he felt her start to melt.

No matter how hard you fight it, what goes up must come down. You can only stay stiff and tight and scared for so long until your body gives up, and he was determined to see her down from that high.

Tara melted, half into Bobby, half into the cut. Her spine curled in and her hair hung down around her face. He rubbed at her arm when he felt her shoulders start to shake, but tough little lady that she was, she quickly pushed that down, straightened up with clear eyes.

Vulnerability was dangerous. Bobby wished that wasn’t as true as it was, but at the very least he was glad she knew it, glad she had what she needed to survive.

And of course she would survive. The club would make sure of that. Gemma, Clay, the boys, not one of them would let her fall down without helping her back up again. “You’re gonna be all right,” Bobby told her, in case she didn’t know.

“I guess I’ll have to be,” she said with a sense of finality that made Bobby smile. He tugged her close and pressed a kiss against her hair with a little laugh, hollow but friendly, and he saw her lips twist upwards to match him. A smile without joy, just to show that she was present, that she was there with him, and they would all get through it together.


End file.
